1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a voice reproducing apparatus for personal use.
2. Description of the Related Art:
As an apparatus of this type, an apparatus is known which has a form as shown in FIG. 4 and in which a memory card 57 for storing voice as compressed codes is loaded in a player body 51, and voice is heard by an earphone or a headphone 58. This apparatus has a configuration as disclosed in, for example, 1996 National Convention Record, The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (page 199) (published by The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers).
In this known apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5 among the accompanying drawings, the player body 51 incorporates therein an interface 52, a decoding unit 53, a circuit portion 54, a battery 55, and a connector 56. The interface 52 is adapted to receive codes from the memory card 57 when the memory card 57 is loaded in the player body 51. The codes are expanded by the decoding unit 53 and are translated into a digital signal. The circuit portion 54 has a D/A conversion unit, an amplifier, a switch, and the like, receives the supply of electric power from the battery 55, converts the digital signal to an analog signal by the D/A conversion unit, amplifies the same by the amplifier, and effects a changeover of operation of the player body by the switch. The voice signal amplified by the amplifier is heard by a user as voice by means of the earphone or the headphone connected to the connector 56.
Such an apparatus can be made compact and lightweight, and is convenient.
In recent years, tests based on voice, such as hearing tests, have been widely conducted in university entrance examinations and the like, in which case voice is outputted from a speaker, and examinees are expected to comprehend what they hear. However, the hearing of voice is liable to be affected by the dimensions of an examination room, the deterioration of sound quality due to reverberation from interior walls, and the external noise, so that it cannot be said that this is a fair method for the examinees. In addition, since a speaker is used, only one type of examination can be conducted in one examination room. When examinations of different types are to be conducted simultaneously, examination rooms and inspectors are required by that number, so that a number of problems are involved.
In this respect, the apparatus in which the aforementioned memory card, in which the contents of examinations which vary on each occasion are stored, is loaded in the player body, and the contents are heard by the earphone is not only unlikely to be affected by the external noise, but is not affected by the dimensions of the examination room, and is desirable in the light of fairness as well, and examinations of different types can be conducted in the same examination room.
However, the aforementioned player body incorporates a connector for connection of the earphone, and it is yet difficult to say that the apparatus has been made sufficiently compact, and the cost has not been lowered by that margin. Further, in the storage of the apparatus, the connection cable of the earphone is likely to become entangled and is therefore difficult to handle.
In entrance examinations or the like, a large number of examinees take examinations at one time. Since the player body is expensive as compared with the memory card and the earphone, the player body is reused after replacing the power supply (battery) and performing inspection. However, it is quite a troublesome operation to inspect the apparatuses in a number corresponding to the number of examinees at one time. Moreover, the examinations are generally conducted only once a year, and the apparatuses must be stored in the normal state in the meantime.